Jennifer Aniston to help Shire launch its first treatment for eye disease
As Shire plc builds up to the launch of its first opthalmology treatment, this morning the drugmaker announced that actress Jennifer Aniston will be the public face of an effort to raise awareness about dry eye disease.
Aniston said in a statement from the company that she recently learned she had dry eye disease, a condition shared by at least 16 million people in the U.S.
“My eyes often become dry, itchy and irritated, especially when I am reading or outside,” says Aniston. “The symptoms were bothering me so much that I finally decided to speak with my eye doctor, and learned I have Dry Eye.”
Shire (Nasdaq: SHPG), which has U.S. headquarters in Lexington, is planning to launch by the end of September a drug called Xiidra, which it boasts as “the only prescription eye drop indicated for the treatment of both signs and symptoms” of dry eye disease. The drug is expected to exceed $1 billion in sales in coming years, and will reportedly cost around $5,000 a year.
Shire’s celebrity-focused strategy echoes the one it used to draw attention to binge eating disorder in early 2015, with tennis star Monica Seles as the public face of that campaign. That campaign came as the company launched its ADHD drug Vyvanse with a new indication to treat binge eating.
It’s also at least the second time the former “Friends” star has helped hawk a biotech product for a Massachusetts company. In 2012, Aniston was announced as the spokeswoman for Living Proof, a Cambridge-based beauty products company in Cambridge co-founded by MIT professor Robert Langer.
Don Seiffert writes about the life sciences industry, including biotech, the drug industry, medical devices and diagnostics.
